So... my apologies ahead of time if this confusing

I moved to SD in august, and started renting with my childhood friend (now roomate). Everything has been going fine our apartment is doing well. My roomate for the past month has had this girlfriend living with him, she is my problem she breaks my electronics and is loud and annoying. I told my roomate that she needs to pay rent if she is going to live here and he is now telling me she doesnt use any utilities. Our bills are higher I have kicked her out several times but since my roomate pays rent here She comes back with him. Im stuck in this lease until august. Im tired of paying for her utilities. the only thing that I can see to do to get out of the lease is to sue my roomate for the remainder of the rent for the lease and get out. she has caused my roomate and I to be at eachothers throats and on top of it she is living here for free. what can I/ should I do.

You have two options:
1. Continue living there and try to get her to contribute.
2. Move  out.

If you move out, your roommate may break the lease.  If that happens, you could be held liable for the balance of the remaining rent due under the lease agreement, ie., present to August. 
The landlord has a duty to mitigate their damages with regard to the unpaid rent (at least in Missouri) and would have to try to re-rent the apartment to a third party.  The duty to mitigate does not require the landlord rent your vancant unit before any other available units that my currently be empty.   So there is no guarantee that the landlord will get it rented out at all and could be left holding the bag. 
In order for the landlord to prevail and get a judgment against you personally (and your roommate) for the amount of rent owed, they would have to get you personally served with a copy of the lawsuit and summons.  A sheriff would have to come to your home or work and give it to you and then fill out an affidavit to the Court swearing you were served.  A plain clothes private process server may be appointed to do this also, so be aware.   
If they cannot get you personally served, they may be able to get a judgment for possession of the property only (in the event of default).  In Missouri, this could be accomplished by posting a copy of the summons on the door of the apartment.  This would give the Court quasi-in-rem jurisdiction over the property itself but not over you personally, so the best the landlord could hope for is to obtain a judgment for possession of the property, but not rent.  So if you move and can't be found, it should affect you too much with regard to a money judgment against you.   But if they know where you work, get  you served personally, and get a money judgment against you, then they may attempt to garnish your wages or your checking account. 
It very well may be that there is a clause in the lease agreement that prevents other adults not on the lease from living there for more than a certain amount of days.  Her very presence may actually be a violation of the lease, so check on that first. 
Either way, you are left at a disadvantage legally.  My best advice is you should consult a local attorney.  I do not represent you in this case and can only tell you what the law in Missouri is, not CA.  Good luck.

Good stuff there Jake
Check the lease Nepix and if her being there does violate a clause then you can report it to the rental office.  The way the laws are in VA the owner of the rental unit has most if not all the power over the rentor.  If you or you roommate default they can and will sue you and him for lost rent.  I know in this state most places write in the lease that if you default you will pay the remainder of the lease.  If you have individual lease you might be able to sub-lease your spot but should that person ever default it will come back on you and then you will have to go after the sub-lease defaulter. 

That being said ...

I assume that she showers and stuff there.  There isn't much that you can do except talk to your roommate and show him the difference in cost.  Instead of going at each other find a compromise because GFs and BFs happen and for the most part you or whoever is going to stay at one place over the other.  Recommend that they spend equal amounts of time at each others places rather than all at one.  Then it kind of balances out.  If you just go at it all the time then you are never going to get anywhere cause he won't give a rats ass what you think and he is going to side with her anyway, face it, thats life.  When renewal time comes, Don't, if things don't change or you don't trust that this won't happen again.  Ahh the beauty of living without roommates.


PS: I don't think a constantly in your place GF is grounds to sue. 

Can't you sub-lease your half or sign the lease over to him and move out?

Does she like snakes cause you could get one... or you could make some money back by selling voyeur pics from your hidden cameras, is she hot?  lol just kidding dude, good luck... not much is worse than having roommate problems, i've been there.

P.S.: your lease may outright prevent subleasing the apartment or it may also require pre-approval of the landlord for subletting.   Check first. 

What I would do?  I would rent the movie "Threesome" and watch it all the time.  So when they come home you are watching TV in just your boxers and they are like, "What 'cha watchin'?"  And you're like, "Pretty much the greatest movie ever.  It is called Threesome.  These three roommates have a love triangle where the straight guy loves the girl, the ghey guy loves the straight guy, the girl loves the ghey guy and the only way they can make it work is by just letting it all happen.  Wanna watch?  I'm make some popcorn?"

Quote from: Jake D on December 20, 2006, 02:33:59 PM
P.S.: your lease may outright prevent subleasing the apartment or it may also require pre-approval of the landlord for subletting.   Check first. 

What I would do?  I would rent the movie "Threesome" and watch it all the time.  So when they come home you are watching TV in just your boxers and they are like, "What 'cha watchin'?"  And you're like, "Pretty much the greatest movie ever.  It is called Threesome.  These three roommates have a love triangle where the straight guy loves the girl, the ghey guy loves the straight guy, the girl loves the ghey guy and the only way they can make it work is by just letting it all happen.  Wanna watch?  I'm make some popcorn?"

And jake is right again, subletting normally has to be approved by the landlord or is just forbidden.  try "Threesome" that sounds like a great idea.  If nothing else it will be halarious to you 

Jake,

Couldn't he also report them to the landlord?  Most rental contracts say that nobody can live in the apartment without being on the lease.  Violating the lease can be grounds for eviction.

Yeah, I suppose you could, and I mentioned that above.  But what is the landlord likely to do?  He will likely give notice that the tenants are in breach of the lease agreement and that if they don't move the girl out, effectively, they will be in breach.  If the landlord does file suit, it could only be for possession (assuming they stay current on the rent).  At that point, they could agree to a judgment for possession and move, abandon the apartment and get a default judgment for possession entered against them, or finally, cure the breach by having her "move out."  In Missouri, you always have the opportunity to cure a breach.  It's not a terrible idea, but it is kind of like the lesser of the two evils.  On one hand, you have to put up with a chick breaking your stuff and using your water (meh) or you have to willingly march yourself into a law suit with your landlord.  The downside is future relationships with future landlords could be effected and you may end up with a judgment against you.  Which I think is never a good idea. 

I think the roommate is more likely to cure the breach instead of getting kicked out.  But worst case, I seriously don't think that any potential landlord who hears the specifics of what went down is going to mind having someone who was kicked out because he reported his dumbass roommate for breach.

Take the Cost of Utilities out in Trade. If you don't know what trade is well use your Imagination. Even if your Roommate don't know what "Trade" is Explain it to Him and if He doesn't Agree to it and Even though she is Loud and Annoying Insist on it.I'm sure they will see it your way.

tell your roomate he needs to pay 2/3 rent/utilities unless she stops hanging out there. and she/him will be responsible for future breakage of your stuff.

There is one other thing to look into if it gets to the point of you needing to move out.  Most leases with multiple signees allow one renter to be removed from the lease without any default if the remaining renter can qualify alone.  Check into your lease specifics regarding this.  Try not to get to the point of sueing a friend as being roomates is the most difficult thing for friends to do.  The only roomates that I ever got along with was when I split a place with two girls once. 

or be sitting in the living room in boxers, insted of watching "threesome". be watching some pr0n , and the do whatever comes to mind

Ok here is what you do.  Go find yourself one of those 55 gallon drums the bums use to keep warm.  Next grab all of the gf\'s stuff.  I am assuming she leaves items there.  Next find yourself some lighter fluid and matches or lighter.  Dump all of gf\'s stuff into said 55 gallon drum.  Pour lighter fluid into 55 gallon drum.  Light match and throw into 55 gallon drum.  Roommate, unless completely oblivious, should now get point.





*make sure you do this in the parking lot or open area so you don\'t burn down said apartment.

lol.. well without completely burning your friendship also you should just talk to your friend.  I had a roommate who did the same thing.. then again I had a roommate where I did it.  They have something between there legs, and do things that hopefully you don't have and won't do.  With that being said they will almost always choose the poon over you.  I know I did but when my friend came and explained it calmly and rationally I understood and made her pay 1/3. 
You should sit your friend down and try to be friendly and calm and explain your pain.. if he's cool then he should understand.  If done correctly it should solve the problem.

If he isn't willing to do it then you should talk to the landlord about your options.  Your landlord has probably had this same thing happen before, and might be willing to just "scare" your friend by swinging by and making threats about having extra people living there.

If this all fails then it is time for you to be an ass.. because thats what he is being.  Take all your stuff and move it to your room or a storage facility, put a lock on your door and keep it locked at all times.  Also have lots of friends over and have a few of them crash at your pad a few nights in a row.  This will get your point across real quick.  Your friend will get pissed and confront you.  This is your time to say "you've been an ass by having your gf live here for free and now i'm being an ass to show you what it feels like."
this isn't at all what happened in my apartment that I shared...
well I don't know if any of this helps but i'm sharing my story and maybe it will help you somehow.

 + 1 to everybody.
 
  I was in the same situation when I was your age, just like I'm sure many people have been. This is just one of those life experience things that can't be taught in any school, you can only live and learn.  
  If she's their like all of the same time your roommate is also home and even hangs around when he's not, he should most definitely be paying more, or they should do the 50/50 hanging out at each other places. ( but I'm guessing she lives with parents, that's how mine played out)
  Now I'm also guessing that its a two bedroom, so no it would not be fair for him to pay 2/3's of everything, the agreement I had eventually worked out with my friend back in the day was that he paid 55% of the rent and bill's and I payed the other 45%, you haven't lost any private space in the apt. You still have your room and he has his, right, and the rest is just a shared common space anyways, but in the end this percentage difference should cover the fact that are three people now using the utilities and occupying the apartment.
  If you both have the same respect for each other you should both find something that is somewhat fair. I had to fight fire with fire for a few weeks and I had all kinds of people over and let a few spend the night, and thankfully my friend and myself came to an agreement.  I think the only thing that made my situation different than yours is that I didn't mind his girlfriend, she was a great person, and I thought that it was terrible they did not stay together.
  Eventually I did get my own place, it was small, but I was the King of the Castle, and after a few years my friend and I moved in together again when I found a super sweet house for rent that was big enough both of us and a dozen girlfriends. You just got to hang in there, things might seem bad, but they can always be worse!

first of all thank you so far for your ideas,


Im definatley going to make a max of the bills that I pay instead of splitting everything 5/50 ill come up with a fair trade.

also the hard thing is they eat my food, i have fixed this by eating out alot so that has been a good thing

About the broken stuff, im going to give them a bill and if they dont pay it too bad,  i wont pay bills. everything is under his name

I came home this evening and he took the internet away, well thats simple ill stop paying for that.

heres a little break down of the letter im going to give him


rent: 775 a month (ill pay my normal to that I still have a room)

power about 50 a month ill pay 20

utilities (gas water trash) usually 50 ill pay 20

phone 14 dollars a month ill pay 5

tv 44 dollars a month ill pay 20

internet --- none ---


I believe that is fair.

I'm going to talk to the land lord, I have put everything in my room

ill rent threesome and watch it all the time that sounds like a good idea and throw a party he is in his room all the time it would be great...

pr0n is defiantly a good thing too, ill just leave it on

thanks so far everyone I will keep updates coming

  

If you gotta do it, be the Baldwin.

Someone please pass the popcorn....any updates?